Catie’s Bubbles LPV – The Spice of Life

Catie’s Bubbles LPV – The Spice of Life

Pre-shave Thoughts:

Catie’s Bubbles LPV (Le Piment de la Vie) is a favorite shaving soap among many wet shavers, and that goes for me as well. This morning I’ve decided to pair Catie’s Bubbles LPV with Captain’s Choice Cat O’ Nine Tails aftershave for a spice-filled and invigorating shave experience. I’m also going to whip-up that famous Catie’s Bubbles LPV lather with one of my favorite shaving brushes. I’m expecting this shave experience to be one of my best in recent memory. I woke up with a bit of a stiff neck this morning which can leave my entire body off kilter, but my face is feeling healthy otherwise. Let’s give this a go.

Post-shave Thoughts:

This was an outstanding shave experience that truly spiced up my life. Every component to this shave delivered to perfection. Loading with the damp Grooming Co. brush from the dry Catie’s Bubbles LPV puck was remarkable. A couple of light swirls of the brush produced an overflowing frothy lather straight away. I continued loading for 8-10 seconds total and had a good soapy paste between the brush fibers. I could have shaved with lather flowing from the puck. But instead, I decided to scoop up most of the puck lather and apply it to my freshly showered and damp face. I gave a couple of paintbrush-style swipes across my face, then began a face lather. After one dip of the Grooming Co. brush into my hot tap water reserve and a short bit of swirling, I had whipped up a legendary lather reminiscent of cake frosting consistency. Catie’s Bubble’s LPV created one of the densest and slickest lathers I’ve experienced and with such a lovely sheen.

I often wonder why I ever reach for a brush other than the Grooming Co. synthetic. This brush is the softest feeling brush on my face, yet has the perfect amount of backbone for my face lathers. The Plisson fiber knot has a greater diameter and slightly shorter loft than Plisson manufactured brushes allowing for the perfect blend of softness and backbone I so appreciate. In addition, the short and stout hand-turned and polished resin handle is just the right dimension for my lathering style and fit’s my medium-sized hands better than most of my other brushes. Pairing the Grooming Go. brush with a top-tier premium shaving soap like Catie’s Bubble LPV provides for a Willie Wonka everlasting lather kind of experience. Remarkable.

I completed a typical three pass shave, one pass with the growth of whiskers, then the subsequent two passes across the stubble pattern in opposing directions. The Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Double Open Comb razor glided with nearly no resistance on a profoundly slick Catie’s Bubbles LPV lather barrier. The low resistance characteristic of the PAA Double Open Comb razor paired with a fresh Gillette 7 O’clock Black blade afforded a mild feeling, yet sharp and smooth shave. So far, the 7 O’clock Black is my preferred blade for the PAA razor with regards to my shaving style and face characteristics requiring a balance of sharpness and smoothness.

Off the the dry puck, Catie’s Bubbles LPV smells sweet and spicy. Closing my eyes while unscrewing the top and breathing in a whiff of the soap evoked a memory of the scent of a graham cracker with hints of vanilla and cinnamon spice. As I built the face lather, and throughout the shave, the scent enriched to include an ample aromatic woody fragrance intermixed with allspice and earthy notes. Catie’s Bubbles LPV is a complex scent that I appreciate. Every time I reach for it, I enjoy the aromatic experience.

After the final rinse of residual lather from my face, I could still pick up hints of the lavish Catie’s Bubbles LPV spice. The LPV scent sticking around a bit after the final rinse was an exemplary complement to my aftershave pairing. Captain’s Choice Cat O’ Nine Tails is a bay rum aftershave to behold. Captain’s Choice bay rum is one of my favorite bay rum varieties. Cat O’ Nine Tails is their bay rum turned-up to eleven with a deeper and richer expression of their already ideal bay rum scent. A slow warming burn began upon initial application of Cat O’ Nine Tails. As the soothing warmth grew, the sumptuous bay rum scent presented strongly. With Captain’s Choice, I enjoy picking up on the rum aroma rather than a basic alcohol scent. After a few minutes of a good warm burn, my face felt soft and supple. In an hours time, the bay rum scent faded away to all but those at an intimate distance.

Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. LPV is a great soap, probably my favorite from Catie’s Bubbles. The label is the older original one. The newer versions have an pdated label you are probably more used to seeing.